Methods and apparatuses related to text caption error correction

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods related to providing error correction in a text caption are disclosed. A method may comprise displaying a text caption including one or more blocks of text on each of a first device and a second device remote from the first device. The method may also include generating another block of text and replacing a block of text of the text caption with the another block of text. Furthermore, the method may include displaying the text caption on the second device having the block of text of the first text caption replaced by the another block of text.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/768,918, filed Feb. 15, 2013, pending, which application is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/624,973, filed Nov.24, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,379,801, issued Feb. 19, 2013, thedisclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated herein by thisreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to text captioning andmore specifically to correction of errors within a text caption.

BACKGROUND

Modern telecommunication services provide features to assist those whoare deaf or hearing-impaired. One such feature is a telecommunicationdevice for the deaf (TDD). Hearing-capable users communicate withhearing-impaired users who are users of TDD devices through so-called“relays.” A relay is a telecommunication intermediary service, which isintended to permit a deaf or a hearing-impaired person to utilize anormal telephone network. A relay service may include an operator,referred to as a “call assistant,” who serves as a human intermediarybetween a hearing user and a hearing-impaired user. The call assistantcommunicates with the hearing-impaired user using a TDD and communicateswith the hearing user by voice over a standard telephone line.

A text captioned telephone system employs a relay service in a modewhere the relay transmits both the voice of the hearing user and a textstream of the words spoken by the hearing user. A hearing-impaired userusing a text captioned telephone, or telephone enabled to do textenhanced telephony, may carry on a normal telephone conversation with ahearing user while a text transcription of the words spoken by thehearing user is displayed on the text captioned telephone. The texttranscription may allow the hearing-impaired user to confirm his or herunderstanding of the words spoken by the hearing user.

More specifically, during a communication session, a call assistant maylisten to the voice signal of a hearing user and “revoice” the words toa speech recognition computer program tuned to that call assistant'svoice. A text transcription output from the speech recognition computeris then transmitted to the text captioned telephone being used by thehearing-impaired user. Even with revoicing provided by a trained callassistant, the text transcription received by the hearing-impaired usermay include errors. Therefore, correction of the errors within the texttranscription may be required.

According to various conventional methods, errors within a text captionare corrected by either backspacing an error in a text caption anddisplaying corrected text or providing a corrected portion (e.g., a wordor a sentence) at the end of a previously provided text caption.Although, backspacing an error in a text caption and displayingcorrected text may provide a hearing-impaired user with a context forthe correction, this method is distracting to a hearing-impaired userand interrupts the continuity of a conversation between ahearing-impaired user and a hearing user. Further, providing a correctedportion at the end of a previously provided text caption not onlyinterrupts the continuity of a conversation but also fails to providecontext of the correction to the hearing-impaired user. Therefore, ahearing-impaired user must determine where the corrected text should beinserted into the previously provided text caption.

A need exists to improve text correction of a text captioning system.Specifically, there is a need for methods of providing text captioncorrection while providing a user with context of a correction andwithout distracting the user or interrupting the continuity of aconversation between a hearing-impaired user and a hearing user.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a method of providing errorcorrection in a text caption is disclosed. The method may comprisedisplaying a text caption including one or more blocks of text on eachof a first device and a second device remote from the first device. Themethod may also include generating another block of text and replacing ablock of text of the text caption with the another block of text.Furthermore, the method may include displaying the text caption on thesecond device having the block of text of the first text captionreplaced by the another block of text.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, a communication system isprovided. The communication system may include a plurality of devices,wherein each device of the plurality includes a processor and acomputer-readable medium coupled to the processor. The communicationsystem may further include a plurality of application programs, whereineach application program is stored in an associated computer-readablemedium. When executed by the processor, one or more application programsare configured to display a text caption including one or more blocks oftext on a display device of each of a first device of the plurality ofdevices and a second device of the plurality of devices. One or moreapplication programs may be configured to generate another block of textand replace one block of text of the text caption with the another blockof text. Furthermore, one or more application programs may be configuredto display the corrected text caption on the display device of thesecond device, wherein the at least one block of text of the textcaption is replaced by the another block of text.

Another embodiment of the disclosure may include a computer-readablemedia storage medium storing instructions that when executed by aprocessor cause the processor to perform instructions in accordance withone or more embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a hearing-impaired communication system, inaccordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the communication system of FIG. 1,according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a text caption including errors;

FIG. 4 illustrates a corrected block of text;

FIG. 5 illustrates a corrected text caption including corrected text andfurther including identified corrected words, in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing errorcorrection within a text caption, according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings which form a part hereof and, in which is shown byway of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may bepracticed. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail toenable those of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention, andit is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and thatstructural, logical, and electrical changes may be made within the scopeof the disclosure.

In this description, functions may be shown in block diagram form inorder not to obscure the disclosure in unnecessary detail. Furthermore,specific implementations shown and described are only examples andshould not be construed as the only way to implement the disclosureunless specified otherwise herein. Block definitions and partitioning oflogic between various blocks represent a specific implementation. Itwill be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced by numerous otherpartitioning solutions. For the most part, details concerning timingconsiderations, and the like, have been omitted where such details arenot necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the disclosure inits various embodiments and are within the abilities of persons ofordinary skill in the relevant art.

Referring in general to the following description and accompanyingdrawings, various aspects of the disclosure are illustrated to show itsstructure and method of operation. Common elements of the illustratedembodiments are designated with like numerals. It should be understoodthe figures presented are not meant to be illustrative of actual viewsof any particular portion of the actual structure or method, but aremerely idealized representations which are employed to more clearly andfully depict the disclosure.

When executed as firmware or software, the instructions for performingthe methods and processes described herein may be stored on a computerreadable medium. A computer readable medium includes, but is not limitedto, magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives, magnetictape, CDs (compact disks), DVDs (digital versatile discs or digitalvideo discs), and semiconductor devices such as RAM, DRAM, ROM, EPROM,and Flash memory.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system 100 configured to facilitate acommunication session between a hearing-impaired user and ahearing-capable user, in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure. Communication system 100 may include communication device120, communication device 190, and a relay service 110. Communicationdevice 190 may be coupled to communication device 120 via a network 180and communication device 120 may be coupled to relay service 110 via anetwork 170. For example only, network 170 and network 180 may each beimplemented according to the standards and bandwidth requirements of atelephone network such as the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN).The use of the term “telephone network” as used herein also contemplatesnetworks that are compatible and configured to provide communicationsusing digital standards, an example of which includes Voice OverInternet Protocol (VOIP). By way of example and not limitation, enhancedbandwidth requirements of various communication devices may be betteraccommodated by providing high bandwidth networks and connectionsthereto through various enhanced-bandwidth networking technologyincluding DSL, Cable, Ethernet, etc.

As described more fully below, relay service 110 may be configured toprovide interpretive services to hearing-impaired user 140. Morespecifically, a human “call assistant” within relay service 110 may beemployed to facilitate a communication session between ahearing-impaired user 140 and a hearing-capable user 160. By way ofexample only, communication device 190 may comprise a conventional voicephone. As such, hearing-capable user 160 may interact in a conventionalmanner with communication device 120 through the use of a voice-baseddialogue conveyed over communication device 190. The voice ofhearing-capable user 160 may be conveyed over communication device 190and may be transmitted over network 180 to communication device 120.Furthermore, the voice conveyed over communication device 190 may betransmitted through communication device 120, over network 170, and torelay service 110.

By way of example, communication device 120 may include a captionedtelephone, a telephone enabled for text enhanced telephony, or any othersuitable communication device configured to receive and display text.Hearing-impaired user 140 may interact in a conventional manner withcommunication device 190 through the use of a voice-based dialogueconveyed over communication device 120. Furtherer more, as describedmore fully below, communication device 120 may be configured to receiveand display a text transcription of a voice signal sent from relayservice 110 via network 170.

In various embodiments of the disclosure, instructions implementing an“application program” may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readablemedium which may include one or more fixed or removable data storagedevices, such as a zip drive, floppy disc drive, hard drive, CD-ROMdrive, tape drive, flash memory device, etc. Further, an applicationprogram may include instructions that, when read and executed by aprocessor, may cause the processor to perform the steps necessary toimplement and/or use embodiments of the disclosure. An applicationprogram and/or operating instructions may also be tangibly embodied in amemory and/or data communications devices, thereby making a computerprogram product or article of manufacture according to an embodiment thedisclosure. As such, the term “application program” as used herein isintended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computerreadable device or media. Furthermore, portions of an applicationprogram may be distributed such that some of the application program maybe included on a computer readable media within a processor-based device(e.g., device 102 or device 152) and some of the application program maybe included in a removable data storage device.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of communication system 100. Asillustrated, relay service 110 may include a display device 132 coupledto a processor-based device 102 comprising a processor 104 and a memory106, such as random access memory (RAM). Device 102 may also implement acompiler (not shown) that allows an application program 108 written in aprogramming language to be translated into processor 104 readable code.Application program 108 may be configured to access and manipulate datastored in memory 106 of device 102 using relationships and logic thatare generated using the compiler.

Communication device 120 may include a display device 134 and aprocessor-based device 152 comprising a processor 154 and a memory 156,such as random access memory (RAM). Device 152 may also implement acompiler (not shown) that allows an application program 118 to betranslated into processor 104 readable code. Application program 118 maybe configured to access and manipulate data stored in memory 156 ofdevice 152 using relationships and logic that are generated using thecompiler.

During a contemplated operation of communication system 100,hearing-capable user 160 (see FIG. 1) may convey speech intocommunication device 190, which may then transmit an associated voicesignal to communication device 120 over network 180. Communicationdevice 120 may then transmit the voice signal to relay service 110. Uponreceipt of a voice signal, a human call assistant (not shown) positionedwithin relay service 110, may listen to the voice signal transmittedfrom communication device 120 and “revoice” the words to a speechrecognition computer program (not shown) within relay service 110. Aswill be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art, revoicing isan operation in which the call assistant repeats the words she or hehears upon receipt of the voice signal. The speech recognition programmay then output a text transcription of the call assistant's spokenwords and, thereafter, the text transcription may be transmitted tocommunication device 120 via network 170. Hereinafter, a texttranscription output from a speed recognition program may also becommonly referred to as a “block” of text. For example, a block of textmay comprise one or more words, one or more sentences, one or more linesof text, or any combination thereof.

Hearing-impaired user 140 (see FIG. 1) positioned proximatecommunication device 120 may receive, via network 180, the voice signaltransmitted from communication device 190. Furthermore, a block of atext output from the speech recognition program and associated with thetransmitted voice signal may be displayed within a text caption ondisplay device 134 as it is sent from relay service 110 and received bycommunication device 120. As a result, hearing-impaired user 140 maylisten to the voice signal transmitted from communication device 190and, immediately thereafter, receive a block of text associated with thevoice signal. In order to enhance the effectiveness of communicationsystem 100, it is desirable for hearing-impaired user 140 to eitherreceive the block of text as close to real-time as possible, or as closeas possible to simultaneous receipt of the voice signal. For exampleonly, hearing-impaired user 140 may listen to the voice signaltransmitted from communication device 190 and, within three second orless, receive a block of text associated with the voice signal.

Furthermore, it should be noted that a block of text, as output from thespeech recognition program and as transmitted to and displayed within atext caption on display device 134, may also be displayed within a textcaption displayed on display device 132. As a result, the call assistantmay view the text caption, including one or more blocks of text, asdisplayed on display device 134 and as viewed by hearing-impaired user140. Therefore, any errors that may exist in the text caption displayedon display device 134 may also be visible to the communication assistanton display device 132.

In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure, applicationprogram 108 may be configured to provide in-line correction of anyerrors that may be detected within a text caption displayed on displaydevice 134. Stated another way, application program 108 may beconfigured to replace any detected errors within a displayed textcaption with corrected text. More specifically, in the event the callassistant notices one or more errors within a block of text of the textcaption as displayed on each of display device 134 and display device132, the call assistant may edit the block of text including the one ormore errors through input into device 102 to correct the one or moreerrors. For example only, the call assistant may edit a block of textthrough input into a keyboard (e.g., selecting and replacing text,inserting text, and/or deleting text). As a result, a corrected block oftext including one or more corrected words may be generated. Thereafter,the corrected block of text including the one or more corrected wordsmay be sent to communication device 120. Upon receipt of the correctedblock of text at communication device 120, application program 118 maybe configured to replace the block of text including the one or moreerrors with the associated corrected block of text. Furthermore,substantially simultaneously upon replacing the block of text includingthe one or more errors with the associated corrected block of text,application program 118 may be configured to display the corrected textcaption on display device 134.

Furthermore, in order to make a correction more obvious to ahearing-impaired user reading the text caption, application program 108may further be configured to identify each corrected word within thetext caption with an identifier (e.g., a mark or a tag). By way ofexample and not by way of limitation, application program 108 may beconfigured to identify each corrected word by highlighting eachcorrected word displayed in a text caption on display device 134.

With reference to FIG. 3, a text caption 310 including a plurality oferrors is depicted. Furthermore, as illustrated, text caption 310includes blocks of text 312, 314, and 316. For example, each block oftext 312, 314, and 316 may be generated by a speech recognition programand subsequently transmitted from relay service 110 and received by anddisplayed within text caption 310 displayed on display device 134 (seeFIG. 2). Furthermore, text caption 310 may be displayed on displaydevice 132 within relay service 110 (see FIG. 2) visible to a callassistant. In the event the call assistant notices one or more errorswithin text caption 310, the call assistant may edit the text displayedon display device 132 through input into device 102 to correct the oneor more errors and, as a result, may generate a corrected block of textincluding one or more corrected words. For example, with reference toFIGS. 3 and 4, a call assistant may recognize one or more errors withinblock 314 and, thereafter, generate a corrected block of text 414including one or more corrected words 414 and 416. Thereafter, correctedblock of text 414 may be transmitted from relay service 110 and receivedby communication device 120. Block of text 314 may then be replaced bycorrected block of text 414, as illustrated in text caption 510 (seeFIG. 5). Further, as illustrated in FIG. 5, application program 118 (seeFIG. 2) may be configured to display corrected words (i.e., words 414and 416) within text caption 510 with a marking (i.e., a tag), such as ahighlight 520.

It should be noted that a block of text including one or more correctedwords may be sent at any suitable time after the call assistant hasidentified one or more errors and made associated corrections. Forexample, the call assistant may notice one or more errors in the mostrecently sent block of text, correct the one or more errors, andtransmit a corrected block of text including one or more corrected wordsprior to sending another block of text. On the other hand, the callassistant may not notice one or more errors in a block of text untilafter one or more blocks have subsequently been sent. In any event, anyblock of text displayed on a display device 134 (see FIG. 2) may bereplaced with a corrected block of text including one or more correctedwords.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method 600 of correcting one ormore textual errors within a text caption, in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure. Method 600 may include displaying atext caption including one or more blocks of text on each of a firstdevice and a second device 612. Moreover, method 600 may includeidentifying one or more errors within a block of text within textcaption 602 and generating a new block of text having corrected word foreach identified error 604. Method 600 may further include replacing theblock of text having the one or more errors with the new block of textin the text caption 606. In addition, method 600 may include displayingthe text caption on the second device wherein the block of text havingthe one or more errors is replaced by the new block of text 608. Inaddition, method 600 may include tagging each corrected word displayedwithin the text caption 610.

As described above in various embodiments of the disclosure, an errordetected in a text caption may be replaced with corrected text (i.e.,“in-line” correction) and, therefore, in comparison to conventional textcaption correction methods, a user viewing the text caption may beprovided with a context of the error correction. Stated another way,upon completion of an error correction within a text caption, a readermay understand how the correction relates to the text caption as a wholeand will not be required to guess as to where the correction belongswithin the text caption or how the correction applies to the textcaption. Furthermore, in comparison to conventional text captioncorrection methods, in-line correction of a text caption may reducedistractions to a hearing-impaired user and, therefore, interruptions inthe flow of conversation between a hearing-capable user and ahearing-impaired user may be reduced.

While the disclosure has been described herein with respect to certainpreferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognizeand appreciate that it is not so limited. Rather, many additions,deletions, and modifications to the preferred embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed. In addition, features from one embodiment may be combined withfeatures of another embodiment while still being encompassed within thescope of the invention as contemplated by the inventors.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication device providing assistance for ahearing-impaired user during a real-time communication session,comprising: a processor configured to: generate a text transcription ofa voice signal during a real-time communication session between at leasttwo parties; transmit a first block of text of the text transcription toa first communication device for display by the communication deviceduring the real-time communication session; and transmit a replacementblock of text to the communication device post-transmission of the firstblock to the first communication device, the replacement block of textbeing an inline correction for the first block of text that was alreadyreceived and displayed by the first communication device.
 2. Thecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured totransmit the first block of text and the replacement block of text overa telephone network.
 3. The communication device of claim 2, wherein thetelephone network is selected from the group consisting of the PublicSwitch Telephone Network and a VOIP network.
 3. The communication deviceof claim 1, wherein the replacement block of text is selected from thegroup consisting of at least one word, at least one sentence, and atleast one line of text.
 4. The communication device of claim 1, whereinthe processor is programmed to generate the text transcription using aspeech recognition program with assistance of a call assistant revoicingwords of the voice signal.
 5. The communication device of claim 1,further comprising a display device operably coupled with the processor,the display device configured to receive and display the texttranscription for a call assistant to review for identifying errors. 6.The communication device of claim 5, further comprising an input deviceoperably coupled with the processor, the input device configured toreceive inputs from the call assistant as edits to the texttranscription such that the edits are included with the replacementblock of text transmitted to the communication device.
 7. Thecommunication device of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured toinsert the replacement block of text as an inline correction asdisplayed by the display device associated with the call assistant.
 8. Acommunication device for providing captions displayed to a user during areal-time communication session, the communication device comprising: anelectronic display configured to display a text transcription of a voicesignal as captions during a real-time communication session with anotherparty; and a processor configured to: receive a first block of text ofthe text transcription from a remote relay service and cause to bedisplayed by the electronic display during the real-time communicationsession; and receive a replacement block of text from the remote relayservice post-display of the first block of text by the electronicdisplay, and cause the replacement block of text to be displayed as aninline correction for the first block of text presently displayed by thefirst communication device.
 9. The communication device of claim 8,wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the voice signalto the remote relay service prior to the voice signal having the texttranscription thereof being generated by the remote relay service. 10.The communication device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configuredto cause the electronic display to provide a visual indication that thereplacement block of text is has replaced the first block of text asdisplayed by the electronic display.
 11. The communication device ofclaim 10, wherein the visual indication includes the replacement blockof text being displayed with highlighting.
 12. A method of providingerror correction in a caption-based communication system, the methodcomprising: identifying an error within at least a portion of a texttranscription post-transmission of the text transcription to a remotecommunication device configured to display the text transcription as acaption during a real-time voice conversation between two parties; andtransmitting a replacement block of text to the communication device asan inline correction for the error with instructions for thecommunication device to indicate that the block of text is a correctionfor the portion of the text transcription to be replaced.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein identifying the error includes a call assistant ata remote relay service inputting corrections into an input device whilelistening to the real-time voice conversation.
 14. The method of claim13, further comprising the call assistant at the remote relay servicerevoicing the voice signal into a speech recognition program used togenerate the text transcription while the call assistant is inputtingthe corrections.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein inputtingcorrections into an input device includes at least one of replacingtext, inserting text, and deleting text.
 16. The method of claim 13,further comprising displaying the replacement block of text as an inlinecorrection on a display device associated with the call assistant duringthe real-time voice conversation.
 17. A method of displayingerror-corrected captions in a caption-based communication device, themethod comprising: receiving a first block of text of a texttranscription of a voice signal from a remote relay service; displayingthe first block of text on an electronic display of a communicationdevice during a real-time voice communication session; receiving areplacement block of text from the remote relay service post-display ofthe first block of text by the electronic display; and displaying thereplacement block of text on the electronic display as an inlinecorrection for the first block of text presently displayed by the firstcommunication device.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprisingdisplaying the replacement block of text with a visual indication on theelectronic display that the replacement block of text has replaced thefirst block of text as displayed by the electronic display.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the visual indication includes at least oneof a mark and a tag of the replacement block of text as displayed by theelectronic display.
 20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:receiving the voice signal from a far end participant to the real-timevoice communication; and transmitting the voice signal to the remoterelay service prior to the text transcription being generated for thatportion of the voice signal.